Volunteer & Service Projects
Student teachers from Miami University of Ohio are offering free night classes in technology as well as English lessons for Caye Caulker youth and adults. This community service-learning project is an annual collaboration between the University, CCRCS, Little Stars and Ocean Academy.
Students volunteered their Saturday and Sunday afternoon to go out and plant mangroves in the Forest Reserve, and collect beach trash. Thank you Ellen and Tony (FAMRACC) and boat captain Tico.
505 plastic bags, 292 plastic bottle caps, 281 food wrappers, 226 plastic bottles, 180 plastic cups and plates! Plastics were once again the top item we collected in our annual beach cleanup of Caye Caulker. Our data sheets will be included in the global marine debris tally and report: http://www.oceanconservancy.org/our-work/international-coastal-cleanup/
Georgia State University taught GIS and marine-debris mapping skills and demonstrated their cool helicopter aerial photography techniques .
Ross Sheppard Interact (Alberta) inspired Ocean Academy to create our own Interact Club, back in 2009! This year’s volunteer group helped us plaster the walls of an office and library room upstairs, under the very hot sun!
Virginia Tech students contributed to Ocean Academy’s efforts to reduce plastics on the island; they conducted community surveys and met with the Village Chairman to investigate the issue of excessive plastic bags and negative environmental effects. Ocean Academy is the only NOAA Ocean Guardian School outside the US and this theme is our first project as part of this program. The re-useable shopping bags we distributed free of charge in the community were designed by our partners in California (Stevenson School) and funded by the NOAA Ocean Guardian grant.
Our joint project is to build a kayak out of plastic bottles to educate our communities about alternatives to throwing out single-use plastics. Promoting re-usable shopping bags is a second project initiative. During their February Caye Caulker visit, Stevenson students went on a shark-tagging expedition, volunteered with a mangrove restoration project, laid transects for sea urchin counts, hosted a movie night with the film “Bag It”, guest spoke in Science Classes about California’s marine ecosystems, hosted a night-time astronomy class and visited Lamanai Mayan Ruins.
We’re ready for Back to School with freshly painted classrooms, repaired furniture, and a clean campus. How did we do it in just three days? 20 students volunteered 198 service hours, 6 families volunteered 57 parent hours, 2 alumni came back to help (David and Elizabeth), 8 teachers and 5 community members (Neldy, Pablo, Cammy, Anna, Sandy) and 3 travelers (Connie, Bill and Carol). A very big thank you to business donors of paint and supplies: Brothers Habet, Benny’s Hardware, Caye Caulker Bakery and Bahia Convenience Store.
Marine Biology students spent a Sunday afternoon learning first-hand how scientists conduct field research. Dr. Rachel Graham leads the Belize Shark Project. She taught students how to use a GPS and depth sounder, collect data, bait a long-line and set-up an underwater camera. The group didn’t catch any sharks to tag, but did swim with 21 Southern Sting Rays and 4 Nurse Sharks.
The entire student body and staff honoured Earth Day at the Caye Caulker Forest Reserve.
Activities: trail maintenance, plant watering, mangrove planting, trash cleanup, cooking and FUN!
Ross Sheppard’s Centennial Interact Club spent a great week visiting and volunteering alongside students from the Ocean Academy Interact Club. The two groups hosted a Sports/Arts camp for children, and then Ocean Academy students led a cruiser bike tour of the island. Great progress was made on construction of an upstairs classroom at Ocean Academy, and finishing touches on a storage shed. Ross Sheppard also went to the Forest Reserve to help with the mangrove restoration project and conduct a beach cleanup. Joni Valenica, on behalf of Ocean Academy, gratefully received a cheque donation for the Campus Bookstore Project. These two clubs have a great relationship, and in fact, Ross Sheppard was the inspiration for the founding of the Ocean Academy club! We can’t wait to welcome our friends back to Caye Caulker again.
Despite torrential rains, the volunteer service group from Upper Iowa University accomplished a lot at Ocean Academy. They built 2 picnic tables, a secure storage shed and a secure and tidy trash collection area.
